


Way Enough

by aninvinciblesummer



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, High School, Rowing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-28
Updated: 2012-10-28
Packaged: 2017-11-17 06:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/548404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aninvinciblesummer/pseuds/aninvinciblesummer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern!AU After being expelled from Kings Landing Day School for punching Joffery Baratheon in the face for insulting her friend, Arya Stark is forced to leave her friends and crew team to attend Harrenhall Secondary School, where she meets Gendry Waters, Harrenhall's star rower. Together they try to lead Harrenhall's crew team to win their first ever Iron Cup championship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Way Enough

_Hey, I just met you,_

Gendry woke with a start and groaned when he realized what day it was.

_And this is crazy,_

He wiped the sleep from his eyes and fingered the slight stubble on his cheeks. He would have to shave before he went to bed that night.

_But here's my number, so call me, may-_

He slapped the snooze button on top of his old clock radio, effectively stopping the infuriating yet catchy  _Call Me Maybe_.

There was a loud knock on his bedroom door, followed by his mother's warm voice. "Gendry! You can't be late on the first day back from Thanksgiving break. Up, up, up!"

"I'm up!"

"Alright, I'm leaving for work. I love you!"

"I love you too."

Gendry rolled off his bed and on to the floor with a thud, feeling like a beached whale. Getting up from the ground, he kicked grubby workout clothes and old CD's to clear a pathway to his dresser. He randomly pulled out a shirt and jeans and quickly pulled them on, followed by his old pair of sneakers. He made his way to his desk, picking up his back pack and shoving a few sharpened pencils and notebooks into it, having packed most of his school supplies the night before.

Slinging the back pack on his shoulder and throwing his favorite hoodie jacket over the other, he left the room and stepped into the living area of the two bedroom, one bathroom apartment he shared with his mother.

Gendry knew that to others his apartment may come off as shabby, but to him it was home. The main room was painted an off white, with a small kitchenette in one corner and a green love seat turned towards a small TV. The small table where Gendry and his mom shared their meals was pushed up against a wall with a single window that let the sun stream through.

His mom had left him some buttered toast and eggs and a bagged lunch. Shoveling the food down and grabbing the lunch, Gendry left the apartment, making sure to lock both the dead bolt and handle lock.

He walked over to the '90s era Volvo that sat in their apartment's single designated parking spot.

Gendry always felt guilty when he was driving the only car that his mother had. When she had given him the keys on his 17th birthday and told him the car was solely his, he flat out refused.

"Mom, how will you get to work?"

"I can walk to the bus stop to get to work, it's just a few blocks away. Besides, It's your senior year of high school, you should have a car of your own It's fine, Gendry."

Gendry knew that the bus stop was more then a few blocks away, but he also knew how insanely stubborn his mother was.

He unlocked the car, threw his school stuff into the back seat, and got into the drivers seat. After a few tries, Gendry started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

_BANG BANG BANG_

"Arya Lyanna Stark, if you don't get out of your room this instant, I swear to God I will-"

Nan stopped her tirade abruptly when the door in front of her swung open to reveal a blank faced Arya Stark, dressed in her usual jeans and sweatshirt. Running a hand through her choppy new haircut, Arya gripped her backpack and brushed passed Nan to make her way to an empty kitchen. Her siblings were all still sleeping, since Harrenhall's school day started half an hour earlier then King's Landing's school day.

A feeling of dread rose from the pit of Arya's stomach the moment Nan had started banging on the door. This wasn't right, none of it was right. She should be in bed, sleeping, not leaving her house to go to her first day at Harrenhall Secondary School. She wasn't even angry or sad anymore- she was just numb.

Nan had set out a well balanced breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, milk, and turkey bacon. Arya nibbled at the bacon and chugged the glass of milk, making sure to burp, earning a disapproving frown from Nan.

"Your father will be driving you to school today," Nan told Arya.

The ball of dread that had now risen to her throat suddenly dropped and exploded in her stomach. Since the  _incident_ her father had been too disappointed in her to have more then a few superficial conversation with her. Now she would have to endure a twenty minute car ride with him.

"Why?"

Nan smirked, as if she knew exactly what Arya was thinking.

"Your father thought it would be nice to drive you on your very first day at a new school. This is a one time thing, after that I will be driving you to and from school. He is waiting out front for you."

Arya ignored the smirk, deciding that it was time to face her fears. Exiting into the large garage that housed the Stark family's impressive fleet of cars, Arya found her father in silver Prius that he had driven for the past seven years. Her father smiled at her when Arya entered the car, but Arya was too numb to smile back. The ride to her new school was a painfully silent one. When they were a block away from the school, Ned pulled over into a side street and turned off the car, turning to Arya.

"Now, Arya, I know that this has been hard for you, but... you must know that there are consequences to your actions." He looked to Arya to see how she was responding. She stared at some dried bird poop on the windshield.

"And who knows, maybe you will grow to like it here. Yoren says he has a spot for you on the crew team, which you should be extremely thankful for. You don't even have to do crew if you want. You could join the drama club, like your sister. All that matters is you get good grades and stay out of trouble. That way you can get into a college, get a good job, get married, and start a family."

Arya knew her father was trying his best to comfort her, but she was beyond comforting. She had been forced to leave her team at King's Landing Day School three months into the school year when a fight between her and Joffery Baratheon had turned into a temporary restraining order and expulsion. Her parents had tried to fight for her, but Cersi Lannister had an iron grip around Principal Pycelle, and Ned couldn't risk loosing his career in Robert Baratheon's multi-million dollar company. In the end, Arya had two options; move in with her crazy Aunt Lysa in Michigan, or go to public school. The choice hadn't been a hard one, but it was a choice Arya felt she should have never been forced to make.

Deciding she had enough of the conversation, she tore her eyes away from the bird poop and met her father's eyes.

"That's not me dad. You know I want to travel, not settle down and become a wife and a mom," she started gathering her stuff and opening the passenger side's door.

"Arya, let me drive you the rest of the-"

"It's fine, the school is only a block away."

She slammed the door close, feeling the ball of dread rise up again.

* * *

_This school is huge,_ Arya thought to herself when she finally made it to the front entrance of the school after abandoning her father in the car.

Harrenhall Secondary School was a public school that taught students from 7th to 12th grade, and had a staggering student population of 3,939 pupils, a little under ten times that of King's Landing Day School. The campus consisted of the school building, a main parking lot and two secondary parking lots, six tennis courts, an eight lane track, a football field, three practice fields, and four baseball fields. The school building itself was a seemingly endless two-story building of light brown brick with black trim.

Her first class hadn't been as terrible as she she imagined a public school classroom to be like. The class was World Religions, taught by an eccentric and kind woman in her early 60's named Dr. Wisgreat. The classroom was decorated with pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses, quotes speaking about acceptance, gifts from various former student, and exotic items Dr. Wisgreat had acquired from years of traveling. After being introduced to the class, Arya learned that the class had just started the unit on Islam, so she didn't have much catching up to do.

The hallways were filled with the din of thousands of teenagers gossiping, laughing, and yelling to their friends across locker bays. Arya liked being surrounded by so many people. She could slip into a crowd without being noticed by anyone, as swift as a deer and as quick as a snake. She was a shadow, she was nobody.

At least, she was nobody until some unknown assailant had tripped her. Lacking her usual composure, Arya almost took a nose dive before catching herself, but not without bumping into another student, causing them both to drop the items in their hands.

Arya, leaning up against a row of lockers, quickly looked around to see if anybody had seen her almost fall. Nobody gave her nor her scattered items a second glance. That is, nobody except for a large boy with greasy black hair and tan skin. His angry face was turning an unflattering shade of magenta.

"You knocked my shit over!"

A few people turned to see what the source of the outburst was. When they realized it was just a fat boy yelling at a young girl, they simply rolled their eyes and continued on to their next class.

"Look, I didn't mean to, I-" Arya stuttered.

Ignoring her apologies, the boy grabbed Arya's arm, yanking him towards her.

"Let go of me!"

The boy wouldn't wouldn't relent. He started to yell at her, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Who the hell do you think you are!?"

Arya, hating the feeling of being out of control, started to yell louder then the boy.

"I will beat the shit out of you if you don't let go of me. I've beaten others before, and I won't hesitate to do it again."

The boy laughed.

She could feel the rage bubbling inside of her, just like the day that she had punched Joffery Baratheon in the face, which had landed her in this miserable school. Her skin felt like a hot membrane barely containing her, and her vision became constricted, until all she could see were the boy's big pink lips.

Arya drew her fist back, putting all the force she could into the punch.

_Maybe this will get me expelled from this miserable place, too. What will they do with me then?_

Arya excepted her fist to make contact with the boy's flabby cheek, but instead it hit a hand that had come out of nowhere.

"Y'know, you really shouldn't hit people that are bigger then you."

Arya turned to see the source of the barrier between her and the fat boy's face. The hand belonged to a tall boy with a muscular build and ink black hair that almost reached his shining blue eyes.

The blue eyed boy turned to the fat one, giving him a mild look of annoyance.

"Hot Pie, just head on to class,"

"B-but, Gendry, she was about to p-p-punch me!" Arya looked back at the fat boy, who was apparently named Hot Pie. Hot Pie looked like he was about to soil himself.

The boy named Gendry rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up the contents of Hot Pie's backpack.

"Yeah, you cursed someone out and acted like you were going to eat their face, what did you think was going to happen? You're lucky it wasn't someone that could actually do some real damage."

Arya stomped her foot. "I could do damage!" Both boys ignored her.

Hot Pie grabbed his things from Gendry with a huff and marched off down the hall. Arya noticed that the crowded hallways was starting to clear, signaling the nearing of the next class.

Arya, realizing that Gendry was still holding her fist, snatched her hand away and started reaching for her own scattered papers.

"I wouldn't take Hot Pie too seriously. He is actually I really nice guy, and his lemon tarts are the best. Here, let me help you," Gendry bent down again and picked up Arya's recently acquired World Religions textbook.

"Huh, World Religions… that's with Dr. Wisgreat, right? I heard she is a pretty good teacher," He smiled and handed the book to her. She scowled and snatched it away from him, earning her an amused smile.

"You new here?"

"What does it matter?"

"Well, aren't we sassy. Do you always act hostile whenever someone trys to help you?"

"I didn't need your help, and I certainly don't need it now."

Gendry raised an eyebrow. "Really? You didn't need my help getting out of a fight against a guy with a good 6 inches and 100 plus pounds on you? If I hadn't stopped that fist of yours, you could have knocked his front teeth out. Are you trying to be expelled on your first day?"

When Arya didn't reply, Gendry extended a hand.

"I'm Gendry, by the way."

The hall ways were almost empty, save for the few stragglers risking being tardy to class.

"I'm gonna be late for class."

With that Arya darted past him and around a corner, leaving Gendry, alone, his hand stupidly hanging in the air when the bell rang. 


End file.
